Digital Approaches to Art History and Cultural Heritage

12-13 June 2020, University of Oxford

COVID19/CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: Please note that the conference will most likely to be delayed to October or November 2020 due to recent events. Everyone who has submitted an abstract will be updated by email. This website will be updated when a new date is fixed.

Digital technologies are transforming the way in which scholars study visual sources and cultural heritage. Digitisation render collections more accessible, while computer vision algorithms enable scholars to trace patterns across large datasets of images and chart new avenues of research. At the same time, 3D modelling techniques capture and digitally preserve cultural heritage sites and artefacts threatened by war, climate change or over-tourism, while virtual reality transports audiences to distant palaces, monuments, or places of worship, reducing the impact both on those sites and the wider climate.

This conference brings together researchers, students, and professionals from art history, museology, digital humanities, geography, history, archeology, classics and computer science, who are interested in exploring digital approaches to the study of visual and material culture. The conference explores how researchers are integrating digital tools into their research, introduces new audiences to cutting edge technologies and methodologies, and pauses to critically assess the opportunities and challenges that such approaches present.

Day 1: Digital approaches to the study of Art History (Digital Visual Studies) The first day is devoted to investigating new digital and computational approaches to the study of visual culture. Topics include: digital imaging, computer vision, network analysis, visual Distant Reading, digital research infrastructures, data standards, institutional projects, digitisation and digital publishing projects.

Day 2: Digital approaches to the study of Architectural and Cultural Heritage (Sites and Objects) The second day focuses on digital approaches to capturing, displaying and studying three dimensional cultural sites and material objects. This includes data capture, 3D and 4D modelling, and virtual anastylosis. It likewise covers the display, exploration and research of cultural heritage sites, using new technologies, including but not limited to virtual and augmented reality.

We invite proposals for 20 minute presentations which engage with any of the above topics or which reflect critically on the integration of digital tools into the study of art history and cultural heritage.

Click here to submit an abstract

Please note that you must register with the Microsoft Conference Management System in order to submit your abstract.

Deadline for submission: 22 March 2020.

For questions, please contact encodingHeritage@gmail.com. Organised by Lia Costiner (Merton College, Oxford) & Leonardo Impett (Biblioteca Hertziana, Rome). TORCH (en)coding Heritage Network.